Art Trap Productions

The promo ads

Someone knew what they were doing when publicizing the new DOCTOR WHO for 2005. RTD also knew what he was doing with the stories: if the stories are good and the overall arc was good, the promos could be great and they were. The overall arc of Rose/Doctor love was played up for the promos if not every story and all the complications that could arise from that. This was when the show had some thought, some merit, some real emotional connection beyond the next special or gimmick:

First: there were various versions of this but the Doctor is running down a hallway chased by a ball of fire. In the Tardis he looks up, "DO you wanna come me with me? Cause if you do then I should warn you, you're gonna see all sorts of things, ghosts from the past, aliens from the future, the day the Earth died in a ball of flame, it won't be calm, it won't be pretty (or something like that) but I can tell you what it will be, the trip of a life time!" All this with quick clips of the Slitheen ship hitting the tower, the hearse chase from UNQUIET DEAD, and the Dalek...amazing. If someone saw that and didn't want to watch, then they don't like adventure or sci fi...

second: Rose stands there, "I've got a choice to make. Stay at home with my mum, my boyfriend, my job or chuck it all in for monsters and danger and life or death, which would yo choose?" Another amazing thing, intro Rose with the Doctor just standing there in Tardis...she looked kinda cool and by comparison DW was cool again...now we've got a jewel thief...

Third: the hugely long promo reel has mostly great stuff with one thing I could have done without: Harriet Jones yelling, "NOOOOOO< TAKE ME FIRST TAKE MEEEEEEE!!!" Yuck, I wanted to hide under the bed or sofa rather than behind it when I saw and heard that. That scene was awful anyway and should have been left out but in this promo we have everything that made that season so great: representation of past, present and future but we also had a number of scenes from the worst story, that Adam second story. Anyway a lot of great quotes "I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name?" "Rose." "Nice to meet you, Rose, run for your life!" And more "This is why I travel, Rose, to see history happening right in front of us." "I am the last pure human." "It's not safe." "Mum, if you could see it out there, you'd never stay at home." "They're not dead." "This is my life, i'ts not clever and it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a difference, making a decision because no one else will do it." "What are you waiting for then?" "I could save the world but lose you." "Who are you?" "Just a friend, passing through." "Time Lord and his traveling machine, oh, and his little girl from long ago." "What are yo utalking about?" "Time travel." "No one is safe. No one on this base is safe!" "Is it always this dangerous?" "Yup!" "Great big alien death machine, defeated by a flight of stairs." "Elevate!" "The end of the Earth, no one saw it go." "Come with me." "It isn't safe." "It's a time machine, I can go traveling around suns and planets, yeah, and be back in just ten seconds, just ten seconds could have passed." Amid this is the DW theme song, and interspersed are scenes of Rose getting slapped down by the aliens, the Doc running after the hearse, the Slitheen changing and attacking (unforunately), the Gelth, The Reapers, the Doc getting blasted from behind (no, really), and so much more. This really gets one psyched up to see the stories.

There are others but these are the ones that stand out in my mind and at the end of each episode there are those NEXT TIME scenes that just startle and get one psyched to see that next story...well done...